Chii Becomes
by tiger-kitty-367
Summary: chii.... the greatest love story ever told. But what happens after "the end"? What if somehow, someway, Chii became human? Is that even possible? And if she did, what then? Rated R for later chapters...
1. Default Chapter

It was Hideki's birthday, and Chii wanted to bake him a cake. She had seen it on TV, and she KNEW that cakes made people happy. And she so wanted Hideki to be happy.

So Chii went online and found a good recipe. Chii went out and bought all the ingredients. Chii did everything right. And then... Chii died.

A lose wire, from behind the stove, came into contact with the metal. Chii touched the metal handle of the oven door when she was about to take the cake out. The skin of her hands was burned black, its surface damaged beyond repair. Her hands themselves, and her legs, ceased to function and she collapsed in a confused heap, little sizzles of electricity all over her body.

"Chii does not understand," she said weakly. "Chii is baking a cake..." Chii's eyes slowly blacked out, and faint whirring sound could be heard from somewhere inside her, a sound that was winding down and soon turned to silence. Her eyes became dark and empty.

Chii opened her eyes suddenly, startled. She sat up roughly, concerned about her cake, but she wasn't in her kitchen. She was in a hospital, though she didn't know it yet. She looked around curiously.

"Where is Chii? This is a place Chii does not know."

Knowing she wanted to find Hideki, Chii got up, unmindful that she was clad only in a paper gown, and went out the door. She was stopped by several nurses, but none could stop the determined Chii from her quest to find Hideki.

Finally, one of the nurses felt a glimmer of understanding, and a connection was made. That connection made her gasp. "Oh my god. This is Chii. _Chii_. She's the persecom I've been reading about on the net..." She trailed off. "Chii, stay here. I will locate Mr. Motosuwa for you."

Chii nodded. "Chii understands. Chii will stay right here and nurse will find Hideki."

The nurses nodded and patted Chii's shoulder awkwardly. "Yes dear. I will find Hideki."

A while later, Chii saw Hideki and immediately launched herself at him. "Hideki, Hideki, Hideki!" She bounced up and down, squeezing his neck. "Chii tried to bake a cake for Hideki, but Chii's cake was no good."

Chii let Hideki go and cocked her head. "Chii?"

Hideki still made no response. He would only look at her. "Why doesn't Hideki say anything? Is Chii no good? Is Chii... bad girl?" her eyes became sad, and finally, Hideki moved.

"Chii," he said, his voice breaking.

Chii hugged him, unsure of why he seemed so unhappy. "Hideki is angry?"

Hideki hugged her tighter. "No Chii," he whispered, "Hideki is not angry." He let her go, but maintained a firm grip on her hand.

Chii smiled at him. "Is Hideki all right? Would Hideki like to sit down?"

Hideki nodded and sank into the bench she led him too. The nurse that had helped Chii was nearby.

"Mr. Motosuwa, I must contact the family."

Hideki nodded. "I understand. I will try to make her understand." He turned back to Chii, who was humming some happy little song of her own making. "Chii? Chii, listen to me."

"Chii is listening."

"What happened Chii? What's the last thing you remember?"

Chii put a finger to her mouth. "Chii was baking a cake for Hideki. But the cake was no good." Her mouth turned sad, and Hideki leaned over and hugged her fiercely.

"it wasn't your fault Chii."

Chii's smile brightened. "Chii will try again!"

Hideki shook his head, and Chii noticed the sadness in his eyes. "Chii? Hideki, what is wrong?"

Hideki sighed and pulled her close to him. "There's no simple way to say this Chii, so I'll just tell you what happened. You were severely damaged by the electricity Chii. It's stronger in our building than... anywhere else, practically. I was so afraid you'd been erased... the building was blacked out, you'd channeled all the power into your body; a lot of your circuits were fried. So I took you to the hospital. They have a lot of power Chii, they have Persecom terminals. I called Kokobunji and he came immediately. We hooked you up and attempted to run your maintenance program, to see if your date was still safe. It was. You even regained consciousness. And then... you went completely offline. We couldn't restart you for an hour Chii..."

Here, Hideki had a lot of difficulty going on. One look at Chii though, he found the strength to continue. "When we did manage to hook your cable up to one of the TV's in the room, the screen told us that your data hadn't been erased, it had been _transferred._"

Chii looked confused. "Where did Chii's data go?"

Hideki shook his head. "We searched all the hospitals computers Chii, there wasn't a trace of you anywhere. I thought... I thought you were... gone."

Chii touched Hideki's cheek. "But Chii is here."

Hideki pressed her hand tightly to his cheek. "yes, Chii, you're here. But you don't look like Chii anymore."

"Chii?"

"Somehow, your data got transferred into a girl's body, a girl that had been in a coma for the past year. She had been on multiple life support systems, including a new experimental one that involved her brain being constantly stimulated by electrical currents. It seems your data was transferred into her brain."

Chii held her hand in front of her face. "So who is Chii?" she asked, her voice distressed. "Is Chii still Chii? Is Hideki still Chii's special someone?" Her voice broke, something the Chii of old would never have been able to do. "Is Chii no good?"

Hideki hugged her fiercely. "I still love you Chii. And you're still Chii, no matter what you look like. But you're human now. And you're in another girl's body. I don't know what her family will do, they might take you."

Chii clung to Hideki like one drowning. "Take Chii?" Tears started to form in her eyes, a surprising event she missed in her distress. "Chii does not want to go!"

Hideki comforted her as best as he could. "I'll explain as much as I can to them Chii. Besides, we don't know if this is permanent. Surely... surely there must be a way to get you back into your own body." Hideki shook his head. "You being human has been my dream Chii... but not like this. Not like this."

Chii nodded. "Chii understands." She snuggled into Hideki as much as her new, organic body would allow; she was bigger now. "Chii must stay with Hideki. Chii cannot go away."

"Yes Chii. We'll be together."


	2. At the Hospital

Chii swung her legs back and forth as she sat on her hospital bed. She was bored. She was also very confused. For the first time in her existence, Chii was experiencing emotions, emotions like boredom, anxiety, and fear. It wasn't all bad though. Chii was also enjoying the emotion of love, which now seemed more real than ever before.

"Chii loves Hideki. Hideki is Chii's special someone." She hugged herself. "Chii is human now, just like Hideki."

For some reason unknown to her, the thought that she was human made Chii very happy. Then, a voice broke through Chii happy reverie.

"Yuki! You're awake!" A woman with tears on her cheeks rushed over to Chii and swept her into a hug. Chii was confused but she stayed still. "Yuki, honey, say something. Do you know who I am?"

Chii shook her head. "Chii does not know. Why did you hug Chii? Are you a special someone?"

The woman took a heartbroken gasp and broke down into bitter tears. "Yuki, my daughter.... You are lost."

Chii squirmed. Tears meant sadness, and Chii did not like it when people were sad. She jumped off the bed and knelt by the woman. "Why are you sad? Has Chii done something bad?"

The woman looked up in amazement. "Why do you care? You aren't Yuki... I should've known I'd lost her forever."

"Chii does not know Yuki. But Chii can search."

"what?" asked the confused woman, but Chii had already retreated into herself.

Chii did not grasp the concept that no longer being a persocom, she couldn't "search" in the computer sense of the word. However, although in a human body, Chii's consciousness was very much that of a computer.

"Chii has found Yuki."

The woman gasped and grabbed Chii fiercely by the shoulders. "Where? Where is she? Is she alive?"

Chii struggled to be free of the woman's grasp, feeling pain. "Chii is hurt, please don't hurt Chii."

The woman didn't release Chii from her iron grasp. "Get out of my daughter's body you machine! Leave her alone."

At that moment, Hideki came into the room and taking one look at the situation, flew in to rescue a very frightened and bewildered Chii.

"Mrs. Koishikawa, please, you're frightening Chii!"

"Chii!? Chii?! Who cares about your COMPUTER?! I want my daughter, she's trapped in there and... Yuki...." Exhausted by her strong emotions the woman sank weakly to the floor. "This... this isn't real. This can't be real."

Hideki shook his head. "Believe me, I wish it weren't. But we're going to find a way to fix this. Now, what about your daughter? Did Chii say something?"

Mrs. Koishikawa nodded. "She said she'd do a search, and then her eyes became all unfocused and then she'd said she'd found Yuki."

Chii turned her face to look up at Hideki. "Chii did find Yuki. Yuki calls this woman 'mom'."

"Oh god..." said Mrs. Koishikawa weakly as she got up slowly and sat on Chii's bed. She turned to Chii hesitantly. "I'm sorry about earlier. I... was overreacting. Please, tell me about Yuki. Is she alright?"

Chii nodded. "Yuki is alright. Yuki says she is happy to be awake, but she wants to know what happened. She says sharing her body with Chii feels weird."

"I can imagine..." murmured Yuki's mother. She turned to Hideki. "Mr. Motosuwa, I presume that this Chii is your persocom. Can you tell me what happened?"

Hideki quickly explained and Yuki's mother sighed. "It would seem to me that the only way to remove Chii's data from my daughter's brain would be to give Chii a new body to return to, and connect the two the same way they were connected before." She paused a moment. "Perhaps with the persocom's data gone, my daughter will remain awake."

"Do you know much about computers Mrs. Koishikawa?"

"Yes. My husband is a top programmer at the Princess Piffle corporation. He has worked with Persocom's before."

Hideki smiled, but his smile quickly turned to a worried frown.

"Hideki? What is wrong? Is Hideki worried?"

"It's alright Chii, I'm just not sure where I'll get the money to give you a new body. You're old one is... beyond repair." Hideki ran his hair through his hands. "Maybe Minoru can help. Excuse me Chii, I'm going to go find him."

Chii nodded. "Yes Hideki should find Minoru." Hideki left the room and Chii sat down on her bed next to Mrs. Koishikawa. After a while, Chii became awake of a discomfort low in her tummy. She tugged on Mrs. Koishikawa's sleeve. "Chii does not feel well."

Mrs. Koishikawa looked at Chii with concern. "What's wrong?" she asked sharply. This was, after all, her daughter's body.

"Chii hurts here," said Chii, pointing to her tummy.

"Oh. You must be hungry." Mrs. Koishikawa smiled in relief, and Chii smiled back. _Perhaps this has been a blessing in disguise_ she thought to herself as she went to get some food for Chii. _After all, Yuki is awake now. And when we get that persocom out of her body, she might remain that way. No reason she shouldn't. _Feeling much better about the whole situation, she went back to Chii's room and offered her a sandwich.

Chii took it and looked at it curiously. "What does Chii do?"

"You've never eaten before, have you?" asked Mrs. Koishikawa amazedly. "That's right, I keep on forgetting you've never been alive before. Here, like this." She took a bit of Chii's sandwich, chewed with exaggerated motions and swallowed, showing Chii that the food was no longer in her mouth.

Chii followed her example and after a couple of tried managed to get the hang of it. When she finished the sandwich she brushed the crumbs off her fingers and smiled. "Chii feels better, but Chii's tummy still hurts."

Mrs. Kopishikawa thought for a brief moment and then understood perfectly. Chii, being a computer, knew nothing about how human's lived. She didn't know how to eat... or go to the bathroom. A wave of pity washed over her for poor Chii, who she knew must feel very bewildered, an emotion that would be real now that Chii was human.

"Come with me dear," said Mrs. Koishikawa tenderly as she led Chii to the bathroom.

"I see," said Minoru when Hideki had told him all that Yuki's mother had told him. "There is a chance it'll work, so I think we should give it a try."

Hideki shifted his weight uncomfortably. "Uh, Minoru? I don't have enough money to get a new body for Chii..." he trailed off.

Minoru smiled. "It'll be my pleasure to build Chii a new body." He frowned slightly. "I'll need Ms. Hibya's specs for Chii though. I'd like for Chii's body to be as close to the original as possible."

Hideki nodded, relieved that Chii would be able to go back to the way she was. "I'll get them. Thanks Minoru."

Minoru nodded. "Chii is my friend," he said quietly. "She is like Yuzuki."

Hideki nodded and left to go find his apartment manager.


	3. Legal Details Chii Comes Home

While Hideki got the specs for Chii's new body from Miss Hibya, Chii learned more about how to be human from Yuki's mom.

"Chii understands. Chii will take good care of Yuki's body."

Mrs. Koishikawa smiled at Chii and hugged her close. Even though she knew that her daughter was an illusion at the moment, and that it was really Chii she was hugging, it felt good to see her child's eyes open and her mouth smiling.

"I have great faith in you Chii. And after Mr. Motosuwa has transferred you out of my daughter's body, perhaps you can come visit her. You two would be almost like sisters."

Chii nodded. "Ye, Chii will visit." She stood up and looked around. "Can Chii go home now?"

Mrs. Koishikawa shook her head. "We must wait for Mr. Motosuwa to come back."

Chii's face lit up, and Yuki's mom received a shock when she realized just how real Chii's love for Hideki had become. "Chii will wait for Hideki! Hideki will come for Chii!"

"Yes Chii, Hideki will come. Now why don't you rest a bit? You must be tired."

Chii shook her head, perplexed. "Chii is not tired." A yawn soon after told Mrs. Koishikawa something else, and she convinced Chii to "go into sleep mode" by closing her eyes.

Soon enough, Chii's breathing became regular and she was fast asleep.

Yuki's mom sighed and left the room, running into Hideki in the hallway.

"Mr. Motosuwa! What happened?"

"Minoru has got Chii's specs and he's ordering parts as we speak. Her body will be ready in a month's time."

"Thank you." Yuki's mom turned to look at the door of Chii's room. "What will you do during that time."

Hideki shifted his weight uncomfortably. "The hospital staff wish to release Chii, since she technically totally healthy. All the tests run on her show her to be completely well. However, they can't decide who to release her to…"

"The girl's mother or the persocom's owner," finished Mrs. Koishikawa, her face blank.

"Yes. Mrs. Koishikawa, I know that you are concerned about your daughter's well being, but Chii would suffer needlessly if she didn't come with me. I can promise you no harm will come to your daughter."

Yuki's mom nodded grimly. "For the moment, what you say is true. It is Yuki's body, but in every way that counts right now, Yuki is still asleep." She turned away from Hideki and started walking away. "Take your Persocom home, Mr. Motosuwa, but take good care of her."

"I always will," said Hideki quietly, and went back to the nurse's desk to inform them that he would be taking Chii home.

When Chii and Hideki got home, Hideki immediately made their bed and sprawled dejectedly on it. It had been a decidedly long day, and Hideki wanted nothing more than to lose conciousness.

"Chi?"

Hideki's eyes snapped open as he felt Chii snuggle up beside him, her body pressed against his.

"Ahhh, Chii! What are you doing?!" Hideki yelped, sitting up roughly, his heart pounding.

Chii rasied herself on one elbow. "Chi? Chii not allowed to sleep with Hideki?"

Hideki's breathing slowed a little, but not much. Chii was right. No matter how improper it was for Hideki to sleep with Chii in her present situation, Yuki's body was human and needed to be kept warm. There were no two ways about it.

"Never mind Chii," said Hideki, shaking his head and running a hand through his hair. "Yes, let's sleep now."


	4. Rough Morning

Sunlight streamed through the large window in Hideki's apartment right onto his face. Twitching slightly, Hideki's rolled over sleepily and hugged Chii to his body. His right hand moved up from her waist to stroke her soft, silky hair which was… short?!

Hideki's eyes snapped open and he clapped a hand over his mouth to keep from yelling as he gazed at the sleeping girl next to him. Where was Chii? Then he remembered. The accident, the hospital, Yuki… Hideki sighed heavily and settled himself back down, propping himself up with his left arm. He watched Chii sleep, her chest rising and falling softly as she breathed in and out. Hideki was glad he hadn't awoken her, because now that Chii was human, she needed sleep just as much as he did.

Chii moved in her sleep, her mouth opening slightly.

In the past, such a sight usually moved Hideki to much excitement, but now he could only watch, entranced. Feeling sunlight on her face, Chii frowned in her sleep and reached out to Hideki, pulling on his shirt as she hid her face in it. Hideki gently moved closer to the sleeping girl and embraced her. He put his nose in her hair, smelling the way she smelled like a human girl now. His fingers gently traced the contours of her face, shaking with the effort of keeping his touch feather-light so that she didn't awake.

It was miraculous, this new Chii. She was still Chii inside, but the face she now wore didn't belong to her. When she was awake, Hideki saw Chii clearly through the girl's expressions and the way she talked, but when he saw her asleep… Chii was entirely gone, and it was only Yuki that remained.

"Chii. Chii, wake up." Hideki shook Chii gently, feeling the desperate need to assure himself that Chii wasn't gone, that she was really there, with him.

Chii's eyes opened slowly, then closed, then opened again. "Chi?" she said, as her eyes focused on Hideki's face. "Hideki!" She smiled, radiant in her happiness to see him.

"Chii, I love you," said Hideki suddenly, fiercely hugging Chii.

Chii was confused, and still somewhat asleep, but she hugged Hideki back gladly. "Hideki? What is the matter? Hideki is sad?"

Hideki shook his head, not letting her go. "No Chii, I'm not sad. I was just…. Afraid. Afraid you might be gone." He let her go and took a deep breath.

Chii stood up, smiling down at him. "Chii isn't gone. Chii is right here!" She twirled to show him just how much she was there, causing her night-shirt to flare up, flashing Hideki a full view of her white undies, complete with little pink bow.

"Chii!" said Hideki, getting up. "Come on, let's get dressed."

Chii nodded and started to pull her shirt up, causing Hideki to yell out for her to stop.

"Chi?" she asked, tilting her head confusedly. Since the night when they'd told each other of their love Chii had gotten used to changing in front of him without causing him any embarrassment.

"Chii, we can't do that for a while. Here, I'll turn my back and you change."

Chii nodded, confused but not really minding. When Hideki's back was turned she took off her shirt and pulled on the dress she'd gotten out of her closet. Chii's dress was white and fluffy, with a full knee-length skirt and fitted bodices. Slim pink ribbons laced up the front of the dress, but when she tried to laced it closed, she encountered a problem.

"Hideki," she said, unsure as to what to do now.

Hideki turned around and swallowed quickly. Chii's dress was unlaced in the front, and Hideki could immediately see why she'd stopped. Chii's original body had been slim and petite, and Chii had been perfectly proportioned. Yuki however, was taller than Chii had been, and somewhat fuller in the chest and hips. Where Chii's dress had comfortably laced up before, it now lay open, a lot of cleavage being visible.

"Chii cannot put on her dress," said Chii, trying to tie the ribbons tighter.

Although Hideki's hands were shaking a little, with his help they managed to tie the dress more or less closed. Although the dress was still obviously too small for her, at least she no longer brought to mind images of street-walkers.

Feeling his stomach rumble and presuming Chii must be hungry too, Hideki and Chii sat down to their breakfast, and got through it more or less without mishap. Afterwards, Hideki decided to take Chii to visit Yuki's mother. Part of his reason for the visit was to assure Mrs. Koishikawa of her daughter's well-being, but the bigger part was that he wanted to borrow some of Yuki's own clothing so that Chii could be properly dressed.


	5. Happy Heart

Hrm…. Okay, this is my first ever author's note. So here goes.

I'm currently taking Japanese classes (which are keeping me very busy). Now, I've gotten a few reviews asking me why I spell Chii's name as Chii, instead of Chi. So here's my attempt to explain. The Japanese character "chi" is the sound Chii makes whenever she's confused or whatever. In English, this charcter is spelled "chi", c-h-i. Now in Japanese, Chii's name is written with the characters for chi and i. You see what I'm getting at? I think I have properly spelled Chii's name.

Okay, now that that's all out of the way, here's chapter 5. Oh, and disclaimer: this is not mine! Neither are the previous chapters! The only thing that belongs to me are the plot and my love of Chobits. D

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

"Here, Chii darling, try on this one," said Ms. Koishikawa, holding up another dress of Yuki's.

After going through most of Yuki's closet, Chii had decided she liked only Yuki's school uniforms (which were a familiar style of being dressed to her) an a few of Yuki's more frilly cosplay dresses.

Chii took on look at the drab dress and shook her head firmly. "Chii does not like it." She turned and pointed at the last dress hanging in Yuki's closet. "Chii likes that one!"

Yuki's mother bit back tears as she recognized the dress that her daughter had worn at the last she'd gone to before her coma. "Yes darling, it is pretty, isn't it?"

She helped Chii put on the dress, and while Chii ran off to show Hideki, she packed the clothing Chii had liked in a suit case.

---------------

"Hideki! Hideki! Does Hideki like Chii's new dress?" asked Chii, bouncing up and down.

Hideki laughed easily, put his hands on her waist and twirling her around. "Yes Chii, you're are beautiful."

Chii paused in her laughter. "What is beautiful?"

Hideki put her down and drew her close. "Beautiful is something pretty, something nice to look at. You are beautiful Chii."

Chii felt her heart beating rapidly and put her hand over it. "Hideki, why is Chii's chest shaking?" she asked, taking Hideki's hand and replacing her own with his.

Hideki felt her heartbeat and smiled. "That's your heart Chii. You are happy, so your heart beats faster."

Chii clasped her hands in front of her chest happily. "Chii's heart is happy?"

"Yes Chii."

Chii turned and ran back into Yuki's room, where Ms. Koishikawa had just finished packing her clothes. "Chii's heart is happy! Hideki said Chii's heart is happy!"

Yuki's mom looked up from the suitcase and smiled. "Yes dear, I suppose you are. Now," she grunted, heaving the suitcase up. "What are you and Mr. Motosuwa going to do now?"

Chii stopped jumping up and down, her face serious. "Hideki will take Chii for a check-up. Then we will visit Minoru, who is fixing Chii's body." She led the way into the living room where Hideki was waiting.

"Ms. Koishikawa, please, let me take that!" he said as soon as he saw Yuki's mom struggling with the suitcase.

"Thank you Mr. Motosuwa. Chii told me you're taking her for a check-up?"

"Yes. The doctors want to monitor Yuki's body to make sure the presence of Chii isn't damaging her brain."

Yuki's mom made a noise of approval. "I can see you are serious about taking care of my daughter. Thank you."

After saying her goodbye's to Ms. Koishikawa, Chii put her shoes on. "Chii thinks it's time to go Hideki."

Hideki nodded, then turned to Yuki's mom and bowed. "We will stop by tomorrow so you can see Chii again."

"I look forward to it. Good bye Mr. Motosuwa. Good bye Chii!"

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After they left Yuki's house, Hideki and Chii swung by their apartment to drop off Chii's clothing, and then went directly to the hospital where Chii was examined by the physician in charge of Yuki's case.

To Hideki's immediate relief, the doctor pronounced Yuki's body and mind perfectly healthy.

Chii, of course, had to voice her own thoughts on the matter as well, and proudly showed the doctor her "happy heart".


	6. Picnic Kisses

After a long writer's block, I have finally figured out where things are going to go. So here we are, chapter 6! Thank you for all the lovely reviews (really, they're what got me motivated to try my hand at finishing this) and I hope to have the entire fic finished by mmm….. Valentine's Day.

Chii sighed happily, her eyes half-closed and a look of extreme relaxation on her face.

"Are you hungry Chii?"

She sat up and looked at the sandwich Hideki was offering her. She shook her head. "No, Chii's tummy is not hungry." She smiled radiantly at Hideki, who after one week of living like this still hadn't quite gotten used to seeing Chii's expressions on another girl's face. "Chii is enjoying her picnic very much! The sun is…" She trailed off, unsure quite how to describe the feeling. "Sunny? Chii doesn't know how to explain… there's a feeling, on the skin…"

Hideki scooted her close to him and hugged her. "You mean the sun is warm. It's nice, isn't it?"

Chii nodded and cuddled against Hideki. "Chii likes being human like Hideki. Chii will miss having feelings."

Hideki looked into Chii's big brown eyes with concern. "Does that make you sad Chii? Would you rather remain human?"

Chii rested her cheek against his and closed her eyes again. "No. Chii likes being human, but this is not Chii's body. Chii can feel Yuki, can hear Yuki in Chii's head. Yuki is nice, like a friend to Chii, but Chii cannot take Yuki's body." She looked Hideki in the face and brightened. "Chii is storing up her feelings! When Chii is in her own body again, Chii will still remember all her feelings!"

Hideki kissed her mouth unexpectedly, overcome by her statement. She was so brave, his Chii, so kind and good. She deserved to be happy, to be human and have her existence be counted as precious as a person's. Chii was momentarily surprised at the kiss, but she responded eagerly. Naturally. Yuki had kissed boys before, and although Chii had no memory of it, Yuki's body knew what to do.

"Motosuwa! What are you doing?"

Hideki pulled away from Chii and looked up. Standing over him was Shinbo, Sumomo on his shoulder. She had a concerned look on her face, and so did Shinbo.

"You're back from your honeymoon!" Hideki said in surprise, not having expected Shinbo to return from his honeymoon with Ms. Shimizu. He really ought to call her Takako, but somehow it felt impolite to call his former cram-school teacher by her first name. It might be ok for Shinbo, who was now her husband, but it didn't feel right for Hideki.

Shinbo crossed his arms, a strange look on his face. "And not a moment too soon it seems. Who is this schoolgirl you're kissing? Where is Chii?"

Hideki blinked up at his friend, drawing a total blank. Then he realized he'd never told Shinbo about Chii's accident. He laughed and stood up, pulling Chii up with him.

"Shinbo, allow me to introduce you to… Chii," he said a bit playfully, stepping to one side to allow Shinbo to see her completely.

Chii smiled up at Shinbo, who was still taller than her. "Shinbo! Chii is happy to see you!" She turned to Sumomo. "Hi Sumomo!"

Sumomo jumped into Chii's shoulder and looked at her closely. "Chii?"

Shinbo was floorstruck. "Chii? Is it- could it be?" His eyes shifted back and forth from Chii to Hideki, wide in disbelief. "How?"

So Hideki sat down again and was shortly joined by Shinbo and Chii while he explained the whole chain of events and lucky circumstance that had occurred in the last week. Shinbo had difficulty understanding how Chii had transferred herself into the comatose Yuki's body, but Hideki himself didn't really understand either so the matter was skimmed over briefly.

"So now Chii is human," said Shinbo, looking at Chii and watching Sumomo play with Chii's new shorter hair.

Hideki nodded. "Essentially. But this is entirely temporary. As soon as Chii's new body is finished, we'll be attempting to transfer her back." He picked up one of the sandwiches and offered it to his friend. "You want?" Shinbo shook his head no, so Hideki unwrapped it and took a thoughtful bite.

"How are you going to 'transfer' Chii to the new body? If you don't really know what happened during the power surge in the first place…" Shinbo trailed off.

Hideki swallowed hard, and looked away. "Minoru understands what happened better than me, but even he's not sure. The truth is we'll never really know for sure how it happened. We can only hope we'll be able to remove Chii from Yuki's mind."

"Yes. You have to at least try to transfer her. How does Chii feel about all this?"

At this point in the conversation, Chii took interest. "Chii feels fine!" she said cheerfully, interrupting without any compunction.

Shinbo looked at her with interest, "You really don't mind? Being human, being able to do all the things a person can do but a persocom can't- you're fine with giving all that up?"

Chii nodded. "This body does not belong to Chii. This body is Yuki's. Yuki says she would like to have it back again, and be with Yuki's mother. Chii wants to stay with Hideki. Chii is fine with being a persocom, if Chii can stay with Hideki."

Hideki felt a lump rise to his throat, and he could hardly croak out her name. "Chii," he said hoarsely, reaching for her. Chii embraced him lovingly, heedless of the sandwich that fell off Hideki's lap and spilled crumbs and tomato slices over the skirt of her dress.

"Chi?" she asked, concerned about the tears in his eyes.

Hideki laughed, and shook his head. "I'm just happy you're here Chii. With me. I love you… so much."

Something inside her responded to Hideki's emotion and Chii swallowed dryly as her vision became a bit blurry. Her throat felt tight and her face grew hot. Tears rolled down her cheeks that weren't her cheeks, and for the first time in her life, Chii was crying.

"Chii loves Hidkei too. So much," she sobbed, half laughing, as if a great dam had burst and all the tears she had never been able to shed before were pouring out now, while they had the chance. "Chii has loved Hideki all along, but now Chii feels like Chii loves Hideki even more." She laughed shakily as Hideki wiped the tears off her cheeks and pressed herself close to him.

"Chii… you cried." Hideki squeezed her tight and murmured in her ear, "No matter what anyone says, I'll always know it's true. You love me, and I love you."

Shinbo got up awkwardly, feeling like peeping tom in the middle of this touching scene, and the romantic mood was spoiled. "Well, I get it now. Chii, I hope everything works out." He turned to Hideki and gave him a pat on the shoulder. "I _know_ things will work out."

Chii and Hideki waved goodbye as Shinbo left with Sumomo. Then, packing away the remains of their picnic, they returned to the Hibya Apartments, hand in hand.


End file.
